There is no controlling your stuff on the Internet. No matter how much we would like to think of our art, our stories, our thoughts, our stuff as ours, once it's posted on the Internet it's easily accessible to anyone who wants to take it, change it, claim it, or just play with it in what they think is a harmless way.

We police ourselves with netiquette. We encourage others to credit when we use icons we didn't create, we cite authors of fics and link to original posts. We beg people to ask permission before archiving stories or taking art for their use. Some people are more diligent that others about asking permission *before* taking things that are offered for sharing (a fact that forced  me to make some major revisions to my website). For the most part, people are respectful.

But there are still control issues.

Back when And Sometimes Discerned was first posted, Te helped me design an OT3 logo. She uses it for an icon. She *claimed* it as an icon, and to my knowledge no one else has used her icon. This makes me happy.

What makes me unhappy is that after I first posted the story, someone asked if s/he could put the logo on a t-shirt. I don't remember who asked; I think the person wanted to wear it to a con, but I might be making that up. I told the person I wasn't comfortable with him/her putting the logo on a t-shirt and preferred if s/he didn't. I have no way of knowing if the person respected my wishes or made the shirt anyway, but I was very uncomfortable with the idea. Part of it was due to legal backlash; if you're going to infringe on someone's copyright, I don't think it's a good idea to walk up to the people who own the licenses at a con while wearing the infringement on your chest. In some ways the Internet still provides great anonymity; as long as I'm not a big-name-fan, I'm probably not going to get cease-and-desist letters no matter what sexual position I put these characters in. But if someone put the logo I made on a t-shirt and wore it at a con and got stopped by someone from DC's Friendly Neighborhood Legal Department, that person isn't going to claim s/he made the icon. It means I'm going to get a phone call. I deal with lawyers enough, thanks anyway.

So I now owe that person an apology, because the logo has been used anyway. mayatisiw made a teapot, and lurkergrrl is getting temporary OT3 tattoo based on the design. It's been used for the personal enjoyment of the people involved and not for profit (I hope), but now I feel badly because I told a person s/he couldn't use the logo for something, and for all I know that person respected my request, but other people have used it. The person who was polite and conscientious enough to ask first got rejected, while people who didn't ask permission can use it all they want, because unless I search the whole freaking web, I'll never know who's using it and who isn't. There's an unjustness about it that doesn't sit well with me.

I think mayatisiw and lurkergrrl are great people. I'm thrilled to pieces they liked the story Te and I wrote enough to get creative about it. I mean, a teapot. She liked the story enough to paint a teapot. It's generating body art. There is no greater acknowledgement to the story that could be made.

So I'm not angry with them in any way.

I'm going to repeat that just to be clear: I'm not angry with them in any way.

I'm frustrated as hell at myself for forgetting a cardinal rule of life, which is: if you don't want people touching your stuff, don't put it where they can get to it. It's the ultimate rule of office supplies, the Internet, Pocky, black socks on laundry day, and anything breakable.  The truth is, if I didn't want anyone but Te using the logo, I shouldn't have posted it for the world to see. People might have then taken it from Te's icon, but I'd have less guilt about it. I'd know I'd done all I could to limit who used it and how.

As it is, I have no one to blame but me, which pisses me off.  And some very interesting questions have since been raised about just how upset I can/should be about this.

The short answer: I can/should feel as upset as I feel. I mean, it's a feeling. Those don't usually make much sense, but they are what they are and trying to not feel a way usually doesn't work for long. Ever stopped trying to be in love? Yeah. It is what it is, and I'm just going to have to feel that way until I'm done because that's the way feelings work, the bastards.

And truthfully? I'm pretty much over the initial gut-punch "AIGH!" reaction and into the meta-thoughts about law, which are fun.

The whole thing raises interesting legal questions. fujikokun said: "you're...upset...because you created something based on somebody else's work, and then someone new took that idea and created something..else?"

Well... it sounds stupid when it's put that way, but yeah. I am.

Pretty much all of American fan fic and art is flat-out copyright infringement. According to the law, we should not write fanfic and fan art because we don't own the characters. The law says we should put the characters back on the shelf and stop putting them in pornographic positions.

There is a limit to how much prosecution fan writers and artists will undergo, because 1) the Internet is huge, 2) there's so many of us infringing, and 3) we do bring a lot of new fans into a fandom and they buy the comics and merchandise, which is ultimately good for the original character creators. So they'll turn a blind eye unless the infringement is huge (or you're Chris Carter).

So strictly by American law, fujikokun's right: I should not have created the logo. The story it was based on should never have been written, and certainly not posted where people could see. It's copyright infringement, everyone who's ever written a fan fic has broken the law, and if all of us were good, law-abiding people we would not create stories or art using characters that don't belong to us.

But we do, because we're evil. But there's honor among thieves, which is called "netiquette." On the Internet, we police ourselves and make our own rules about how "our" creations can be used, and we rely on the consciences of strangers to respect our wishes. Which they usually do.

(And can I just say as a side note, this is a weird issue to come home to after Animzement. Japanese mangaka not only don't care if you make fan art based on their characters, they *encourage* it. I saw one mangaka comment on an artist's rendition of the mangaka's character and give her tips on how to improve it. Completely different perspective.)

The reason I was upset had nothing to do with other people; it was all about me. I wasn't comfortable with the idea of people taking a logo -- which is easily accessible, easily re-creatable, and would look utterly fantastic on a t-shirt -- and using it. In my head, it's more of a copyright infringement than just writing a story using characters I don't own. It's probably not, in strict legal terms, but in my head? It's different. So I wanted to show it to people because it went with the story, but I didn't want them to use it, because in my head that would be really illegal.

And an anonymous poster has a point about putting it on something that only you will see versus putting it on t-shirts and selling them, or someone else claiming creation credit. The only trouble is, it's a slippery slope. The more people see the logo being used, the more they think it's *okay* to use it "just for themselves," until someone somewhere gives up all pretense of using it just for themselves, makes something for widespread distribution/use/profit generation, attracts the attention of DC's legal department, and I get expensive-to-fight-off lawyer-y fingers pointed at me.

I truly am glad that that people like the image. I mean, that's why people write stories and draw art based on these characters: we love them and want to share the love. And when people respond that way, when people start looking at Bart and Tim and Kon the same way I do? That's the Best. Thing. Ever.

I'm not upset at anyone for using it; like I said, if I didn't want people using it I shouldn't have posted it on the Internet. I've actually had this conversation with other people who were upset that something they made (icons usually) got used without their permission. My response was, "You put it where they could get to it, and then got mad when they did. Sorry, but..." So, I'm *really* kicking myself for not following my own advice.

So, to sum up:

1) I'm mad at me and no one else.

2) I'll be done feeling that way when I'm done.

3) Fanfic writers and fan artists are Evil Copyright Infringers.

4) Number 3 probably isn't going to stop anyone from writing or drawing what they want. (I'm not going to stop writing porn, because, well, bendy!Tim.)

5) If I post art to the Internet in the future, it'll be stuff I don't care if anyone uses because of Number 1.

And go check out mayatisiw's teapot. It really did turn out nicely.

*fights the urge to make grabby hand gestures at it*